1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle washing systems, and more particularly, to vehicle washing systems having a brush with a rotational axis which can be deflected in both vertical and horizontal planes to wash either vertical or horizontal surfaces positioned on the opposite side of a vertically extending obstruction or a horizontal surface positioned in alignment with a vertical surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For years diesel locomotives have been hard to keep clean. Such locomotives are operated on a nearly-continuous basis and are exposed to dirt, grease, oil and diesel fumes. As a result, diesel locomotives must be cleaned frequently for maintenance and safety reasons and also to assist the railroads that own such locomotives in maintaining an appropriate public image.
A substantial percentage of the exterior surface area of a diesel locomotive is surrounded by a vertically extending obstruction in the form of a handrail. Behind this handrail lies a horizontally oriented walkway and a vertically extending side surface oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the locomotive's direction of travel. Although prior art vehicle washing systems of the type typically used to clean cars, trucks and vans could access and clean selected portions of a locomotive, such prior art systems are not able to clean the extensive locomotive surface area lying behind the locomotive handrails.
To solve the difficult problem of cleaning diesel locomotives without reliance on expensive hand washing techniques, railroads have adopted spray systems for directing sprays of strong chemicals, detergents and wash water against the exterior surfaces of a locomotive. Such fluid sprays are not hindered by the comparatively open structure of the handrails and are therefore able to direct fluid streams against the vertical side surfaces and horizontal walkways lying on the interior of the locomotive handrails.
Unfortunately, such high pressure spray cleaning systems have failed to adequately clean locomotives and utilize large volumes of cleaning chemicals as well as large volumes of water. To achieve the massive fluid flow and pressure requirements of such prior art spray cleaning systems, expensive, large capacity pumps driven by powerful electric motors must be incorporated in such systems.
Because the spray cleaning systems described above do not provide the mechanical brush-to-locomotive surface cleaning action of the type available with conventional rotating brush vehicle washing systems, such spray cleaning systems have failed to provide a satisfactory solution to the locomotive cleaning problem.
Cleaning the surface area located inside the bed of a pick-up truck presents a problem analogous to that explained above in connection with locomotives. In a pick-up truck, the truck bed and vertically extending surfaces in the form of the sides of the pick-up truck bed, the tail gate and the rear surface of the truck cab cannot be cleaned by conventional vehicle washing systems incorporating rotating cleaning brushes. Such prior art systems are capable of cleaning the front, sides and rear of pick-up trucks as well as the hood, windshield and cab top, but cannot access the interior surfaces of the pick-up
Although it is conceivable that a highly complex vehicle washing system incorporating a rotating cleaning brush could be directed by a robotic system or by other complex hydraulic or pneumatic control systems, the cost of such systems would be prohibitive. In addition, such systems might not be fail safe. That is, if a vehicle were driven past such a complex vehicle washing system at an excessive rate of speed, it is likely that the control system could not react in a sufficiently short time to move itself out of the way to avoid substantial system damage or vehicle damage.